Game Controls
In Story of Seasons you'll be controlling the movement of your character by using the circle pad on your Nintendo 3DS. Pressing lightly in the direction you wish to move will make your character walk. Pressing even more will make your character run.
The directional pad will control the camera, but only its height. In the previous version the directional pad could also control right/left camera view, but in this version it is only up and down.
A Button
The A Button is what you'll use for most of your actions, whether it is talking to someone, using a tool, picking an item up off of the ground, confirming menu option choices, or selecting items in your rucksack.
Holding down the A Button when talking to a villager will increase the text speed of the conversation. You'll also hold down A when you're using a tool to continuously use it, so you don't have to keep pressing A each time you want to do a tool action.
B Button
This is the button for backing out of menus and for jumping. Jumping allows you to get around obstacles such as a group of livestock that is blocking your path or a fence that is in your way. In some places, jumping onto a special spot will trigger a random item to appear.
There are about 16 spots in the game that will make a item appear when you jump and bounce off the spot. The items that appear are branches, rocks, Glass Stone and Junk Ore, wild flowers, herbs, and sometimes Turnip Seeds or Grass Seeds. The chance of an item appearing is about 30%, so don't be surprised if you land on a spot and nothing appears.
Oak Tree Town (main)
- The hedge behind Otmar's shop, behind the peak of his roof.
- The hedge south of Otmar's shop, near to the lamp post.
- The southern corner of the hedge by the Carpenter's shop.
- The northern corner of the hedge by the Carpenter's shop.
- Half-way down the pile of lumber to the right of the Carpenter's shop.
- The northern corner of the hedge by Raeger's restaurant (hop down the hedge line).
Oak Tree Town (west)
- The white fence behind Agate's house, by the tree.
- The hedge by Agate's house, close to her front door.
- In the middle of the hedge by the Antique shop.
Safari Zone
- Pasture area, southern fence line, second double-post left of the cactus.
- Pasture area, western fence line, in the middle of the bare dirt patch.
Field Areas
- Bridge area, the smaller of the two boulders by the bridge.
- Tree field, on the white fence east of the mountain sign.
- Leafy veggie field, on the brown fence in the southeast corner.
- Wheat field, on the southern fence between the tree and the cow statue.
- Wheat field, on the northern fence by the third white post from the right.
X Button
This button is a shortcut to the contents of your rucksack. You can either tap on the bag icon on your touch screen to open the bag, or simply press X to do the same thing.
During an event or festival, pressing X will open the option to speed through the blah-blah-blah that takes place such as Veronicas's introductions or text that you might have already seen. You can toggle between the quick-speed text and the normal speed with the X Button. For example, you could speed through Woofio's judgment of the foul contestants during the Chicken Festival, then slow it back down when you win and want to see your earned prize.
The other thing this button can do is when you are in your rucksack, pressing X when selecting an item will set the item as one of the registered items in your quick menu, which appears when you press the Right Shoulder button.
Y Button
If you have a tool equipped, pressing the Y Button will put the tool back in your bag.
When you are in your bag, Y will merge your items together that may have different Star Ranks, compacting your items and making more room in your rucksack. The resulting Star Rank will be ([no. of item 1 x its star rank points] + [no. of item 2 x its star rank points]) / (no. of item 1 + no. of item 2). For example, if you have 5 Milk at max 300 SP (5 stars) and combine it with 10 Milk with 1 SP (.5 stars), then the calculation is (1500 + 10) / 15 total Milk; this results in 15 Milk with 101 Star Points (rounded up from 100.66), which is only 2 Stars. Combining your bag items when the items to be merged have a wide gap in Star Rank will result in a stack of items with a lower Star Rank.
Right Shoulder
The handy Fast Access shortcut menu can be opened by using your Right Shoulder button. This menu is broken into three tabs: tools, seeds, and registered items. Your tools and seed bags that you're carrying within your bag are self-explanatory, but the registered items are what you personally can set. To register an item, find it in your rucksack and press the X button. This will place a pink checkmark next to the item name and will make the item available from the Fast Access menu. You can navigate through the three tabs by pressing Right Shoulder.
This menu is great for setting items you frequently need without having to manually find it in your rucksack. You could register a stack of Eggs that you give to the villagers as gifts, then just access the quick menu to grab an Egg whenever you bump into someone who you want to give an Egg to. I use it for quickly accessing animal treats that I give to my livestock; this way I can go from animal to animal giving a treat instead of picking a single treat from the treat bin in the barn, giving the treat, running back to the treat bin, etc.
You can register as many items as your rucksack can hold. Either a max of 50, 70, or 100, depending on the maximum size of your bag.
Close the Fast Access menu by pressing the B Button.
Left Shoulder
When you press the Left Shoulder button while standing next to a villager, a small emotion bubble will appear above the person's head. This will be a vague indicator of your friendship level with the person.
Unused Buttons
The Select button and the Start button. The HOME button takes you to your 3DS main menu, where you can access the in-game instruction manual or post to the Nintendo Miiverse community.
